When you are out traveling, you might bring a map. There will be signs along the way to guide you, and you can always ask by passers for directions. Most of the time though, you have a goal, a destination. On the net, it can be different. Often you might find yourself browsing through pages upon pages of useless Google search results, or getting stuck in an eternal loop of links (ie. page x has a link to page xx which in turn links to page xxx and so on).

You have search engines for finding your way through the millions of pages of information, but what about blogs? Indications point in the direction that Google will try to do something about it, but that is not my main point of this story. Because blogs are so much more than just a “page of information” – it tells the life of a human, in as little, or as much detail as the owner want. Forcer made a great post about the different kinds of blogs, and where different people put the emphasis, something that alone tells a lot about that person.

The thing that often sets blogs apart though, and make them interesting, is the use of automation and dynamic content. For instance, users of MovableType can get comments from readers, they can trackback articles, auto-submit updates to “trackers”, and much much more. And the interesting part is that all of a sudden you are part of something. A network. A community. You meet people you never knew existed. After posting my thoughts on the IXUS 400 for instance, I shortly got a mail from a guy who were looking to replace his old camera, too. And after trackbacking to a couple of Etan’s articles, I am all of a sudden on his blogroll, yet I have still to exchange a single word with the guy. Isn’t this exciting? I think it is, and I think this is all just a tiny taste of what the future holds…

I have previously been ranting about what Apples latest inventions will mean to the future, and with iChat AV and the iTunes Music Store, we are already well on the way. I, like many other, have yet to realize what a big deal this is for the future. Soon we will *all* be getting our music, movies, and even software – from a 1-click based central locations like the iTunes Music Store. Some company, with the ambition of Amazon, and the knowledge of PayPal or Kagi, will make a cross-platform software with all this enabled – where developers/artists/actors (or the people responsible for the work, ie. record labels and movie studios) can make “plug-ins” for offering their media. The sole owner of the whole “thing” will process all payments, and you know… don’t you think?

On to something very different, yet related to the future: I love my T68i, but it has too little of Apple to it. The future has already begun. The technology is here now, but it’s not being used. I want to be able to communicate with my iChat buddies over GPRS, and if I have a camera attached to the phone, I would want to use iChat AV capabilities. Ok, ok, so the network can’t QUITE handle the bandwidth, not to mention *I* can’t handle the costs. But still… Is it time for Apple, despite promises, to bring the Newton back to life? As echoed by Steven, there is yet a phone/pda that have a OS matching Apples. The Mac is easy to use, and so is the Newton. I don’t mind the SonyEricsson interface too much either, and the PSION OS is actually pretty good, with an overall blend of Mac and Windows. But still not quite anything like the Mac…

My iSight arrived today. I’ve had a couple 30-minute sessions already, and I am truly impressed. Much better results than with my camcorder. One thing that bothers me though, is the stands… they suck. My iSight is currently way too high, and in the wrong direction. Lucky to have an iMac, I can tilt and rotate the display to adjust the camera, but it’s just not the right way to do it…

I’m still fascinated over blogs in general and the people who write blogs.. and I really would wish that more of my IRL friends started blogging.. but often, people don’t really get the concept and think it’s silly to write a ‘public diary’..